Adrian Clancy: Court of Appeal quashes conviction for 2019 murder of toddler Sadie-Leigh Gardner

Adrian Clancy was convicted of the 2019 murder of 17-month-old Sadie-Leigh Gardner. Today, his conviction was quashed. Photo / Andrew Warner

[A_150321aw20.JPG] Adrian Clancy was convicted of the 2019 murder of 17-month-old Sadie-Leigh Gardner. Today, his conviction was quashed. Photo / Andrew Warner Ethan Griffiths / Open Justice

A Tauranga man convicted of murdering his 17-month-old stepdaughter has had his conviction quashed, with the Court of Appeal ordering a retrial.

But in a judgment released today, Court of Appeal Justice Miller suppressed the circumstances of the appeal and the reasons for quashing the conviction.

Clancy is now set to face a retrial. Bail is to be determined in a High Court hearing.

Toddler Sadie-Leigh was rushed to Starship hospital from her Maungatapu Rd home with serious head injuries on March 27, 2019. She died two days later.

In April 2019, detective senior sergeant Lindsay Pilbrow said the results of the post-mortem and medical examinations had prompted police to treat the death as a homicide.

Clancy was charged and went to trial in the Rotorua High Court last year, being found guilty of murdering the child.